The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of our fifth free and open eTextbook: Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students by Dr. Michael Downing, Professor of English at Kutztown University.

“This book is intended as an open educational resource for beginning journalism students. It contains information on such topics as the First Amendment, 5 Ws (and H), the inverted pyramid, headlines and subheads, AP and in-house style, writing and editing exercises, and guidance on strategies for covering various stories and/or events.

This book essentially replicates the structure of the author’s journalism classes, which are writing-intensive classes. As such, it focuses upon helping student writers begin working on reasonably serious, campus-level journalism assignments as quickly and effectively as possible. The goal is to submit stories, photos, and occasionally video to a university newspaper for publication, all the while following professional standards related to accuracy, clarity, grammar, and AP style.”

PA-ADOPT is made up of four participating institutions from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education: Cheyney University, Kutztown University, Millersville University, and West Chester University. The PA-ADOPT project is aimed at addressing gaps in the open eTextbook marketplace, improving student learning, and mitigating rising student costs. It is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Open Textbook Pilot Program, and the eTextbooks created by the consortium are released as Open Educational Resources (OERs)

All of PA-ADOPT’s faculty cohorts have been filled, but if you are a WCU faculty member who is interested in building their own OER eTextbook, please contact Marc Drumm, Senior Instructional Designer in the Teaching & Learning Center and Principal Investigator of PA-ADOPT, at mdrumm@wcupa.edu.